Article attaching machine



April 24, 1934" J. VOLLMAN 1,956,431

- ARTICLE ATTACHING MACHINE I Filed Sept. 30, 1931' S hee sSheet 1 gwumtov Jose Oh Mailman April 24, 1934. VOLLMAN ARTICLE ATTACHING MACHINE Filed Sept. 30. 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 gwumto o Vollman Joseph April 24, 1934. J, VOLLMAN 1,956,431

ARTICLE ATTACHING MACKINE Filed Sept. 30. 1931' 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Jose /z [bl/mm Patented Apr. 24, 1934 ARTICLE ATTACHING MACHINE Joseph Vollman, Elizabeth, N. J., assignor to The Singer Manufacturing Company, Elizabeth, N. J a corporation of New Jersey Application September 30, 1931, Serial No. 565,938

11 Claims.

This invention relates to sewing machines of the type having stitch-forming mechanism and awork-holder with means for producing relative vibration between the two.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide means forattaching hooks to cords or cord-like parts hereinafter set forth and illustrated in the accompanying drawings of a preferred embodiment of the invention, from which the several features of the invention and the advantages attainedthereby will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

In carrying out the invention, I preferably make use of a sewing machine'such as that disclosed in the United States patents to J. J. Sullivan, No. 777,564, dated Dec. 13, 1904, and to W. L. Barron, No. 1,093,241, dated Apr. 14, 1914. This invention is shown as embodied in a sewing ina chine constructed substantially in accordance with the disclosure of said patents, wherein a shiftable work-holder is described having a lower or work-supporting plate and a pair of upper coacting button-gripping jaws adapted to locate a button at the upper side of the work with its eyes in stitch-receiving position. In the present instance, however, the work-holder disclosed in said patents has been modified in certain important particulars. Other modifications; improvements, and additions will hereinafter appear as the description proceeds.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sewing machine of the well known Singer button sewer type.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged top plan View of the article-holder and auxiliary presser-device.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the article-holder and auxiliary presser-device showing the parts in active or operative position.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation partly in section, taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, showing the parts in raised position.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the article-holder and the material receiving means.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view representing a portion of an elastic cord and a hook applied thereto, and illustrating how the groups of attaching threads are laid.

Fig. 7 is a section taken along the line 77 of Fi 6. a

Fig. 8 is a side elevation representing a portion of an elastic cord and-a hook applied thereto.

Fig. 9 is a section taken along the line 9-9 of Fig. 8.

The machine is constructed with the usual bedplate 1 from which rises .the standard 2 supporting the bracket-arm 3 which terminates in the hollow head 4 wherein the needle-bar 5 carrying a comparatively blunt needle 6 is journaled for reciprocation.

The needle cooperates with a suitable looptaker such as the shuttle 7, mounted to operate 75 in the usual raceway 8 below the bed 1. Suitable thread-cutting mechanism (not shown), such as that fully described in the said Sullivan patent, is provided for trimming the threads below the throat-plate. 8O

Mounted slidably upon the bed-plate 1 is a bar 9 constituting a carrier for the article-holder and work-supporting plate. At one end of the bar 9 is a stud 10 adjustably secured to the crankarm 11 by means of a block 12. The crank-arm 11 85 is journaled in suitable bearings 13 in. the bracket 14, and its upstanding end is provided with a cam-roller 15 entering a camrace 16 in one face of the cam-wheel 17. Through the described connections the cam-wheel is adapted to impart longitudinal movement to the slide-bar.

At its opposite end the slide-bar 9 is secured to a block 18 extending through an aperture in the bed-plate and connected with the slide-plate I 19 which is connected by means of the link 20 gr with one arm 21 of a bell-crank lever fulcrumed upon the fixed stud-screw 22 and provided with 'an arm 23. One end of a link 24. is adjustably attached to the bell-crank lever arm 23 and the opposite end is attached to a rock-lever 25 fulcrumed at 26 to the bracket 14. The upstanding end of the rock-lever is provided with a camroller 27 entering the cam-race 28 in the face of the cam-wheel 17. Through the connections thus described, the slide-bar derives from the camwheel lateral vibratory movement.

The article-holder includes an upper vertically movable member or bar 44 supported on the slidebar 9 in the usual manner. The bar 44 is urged toward the bed of the machine by fiat springs 46 and has attached to its forward end the usual article-holder having spring-pressed jaws 47, 48,

as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

Machines of this type are provided with stopmotion devices of well known construction by means of which the period of operation of the stitch-forming mechanism is controlled for production of groups of tacking or fastening stitches of predetermined number.

The foregoing description has been (ill'BCtBda to a sewing machine of the well known Singer button sewer type, known commercially as the Singer 68 machine, which forms no part of the present invention. For a more complete description of this type of machine reference may be had to the Sullivan and Barron patents previouslyreferred to.

In the present embodiment of the invention, I have shown (Figs. 2, 3, and 5)' secured upon the forward end of the slide-bar 9 a work-supporting plate 29 having two upstanding lugs 30, 31 forming a cord-end positioning channel, and having their ends chamfered at 32 to facilitate the introduction of a cord. A stud 33 fixed to the plate 29 acts as a stop for the cord-end, so that the cord may be accurately positioned in the channel.

Carried by the plate 29 is another plate 34, provided with an aperture 35 into which the lower end of the rack 36 extends when the said rack is in its lowermost position. A U-shaped member 37, Fig. 2, is attached to the plate 34 by screws 38, and a plate 39 is secured to the open side of the U-shaped member by screws 39'. The said plate and U-shaped member together form a casing having an internal vertically disposed slideway of substantially rectangular crosssection in which the rack 36 is slidably received.

Journaled in the casing and having one end extending therefrom is a shaft 40 having fixed thereto a pinion 41 housed in the casing and meshing with the rack 36 which has a horizontal arm 49 extending over the combined articleholder and presser-device raising member 50, common in this type of machine. The end of the shaft 40 extending through the side of the casing -has an auxiliary presser-device 42 fixed thereto by means of set-screws 43. The function of the said auxiliary presser-device is to hold the cord 51 firmly in the channel formed by the lugs 30, 31.

A member 52 -(see Figs. 2-5) is adjustably secured to the article-holder by the knurled head screw 54 and the elongated slot 53 and has a depending portion 55 which is bifurcated at its end, as shown at 55'. The member 52 serves to steady the bill of the hook and prevents turning of the hook during the sewing operation.

The bar 44 has secured thereto the usual bent post 57 which extends over the horizontal arm 49 of the rack 36. As previously explained, the flat springs 46 urge the bar 44 towards the bed-plate. It is obvious, therefore, that the article-holding jaws 47, 48 and the auxiliary presser-device 42, through the agency of the bent post 57, the rack 36, pinion 41, and shaft 40, will tend at all times to assume their active or work-engaging positions. It will also be obvious that the hook is pressed down upon the cord by the jaws 47 and 48. Therefore, the article-holder has a dual function, to wit, holding the article and simultaneously'functiomng as a presser-device. It will be observed in Fig. 1 that the jaws 47, 48 of the articleholder are disposed on the left side of the needle and the auxiliary presser-device is disposed on the right side of the needle.

Operation For the purpose of illustration I have selected an elastic cord comprising a series of parallel rubber strands encased in a fabric covering similar to those used as shock absorbers in parachute construction. .Heretofore, hooks have been secured to these cords by hand and with one continuous wrapping of thread which passes through the eyes of the hook and around the cord. When so secured the strength of the connection between the cord and hook depends entirely on the friction between the cord and the thread; the amount of friction in turn being dependent upon how tight the thread is wound about the cord. In addition to a wrapping such as previouslyemployed, I have provided groups of anchoring stitches which pass through the eyes of the hook and through the cord, thereby providing a positive connection between the hook and cord.

To place the work in a. position where it may be operated upon by the machine, downward pressure is exerted on the lever 58 which raises the, bar 59, the member 50, the horizontally extending arm 49 of the rack 36, and the article-holder through the agency of the bent post 57. The upward movement of the bar 49 through the rack 36 and pinion 41 causes the auxiliary presserdevice to move from the position shown in Fig. 3'

to the position shown in Fig. 4. The auxiliary presser-device, due toits rack and pinion connection is raised a relatively greater amount than the presser member of the work-clamp. This construction gives finger room for the introduction of the hook 56 in the jaws 47, 48. The hook 56 is inserted in the jaws and the cord is placed between the lugs 30, 31 on the work-supporting plate with the end abutting the stud 33 while the parts are in open or work-receiving position shown in Fig. 4. The lever 58 is released and the parts are moved down to their active positions. as shown in Fig. 3.

The machine is started in the usual and well known manner, and operates for a predetermined number of stitch-forming operations. In the present instance the main shaft is preferably given twenty-one complete revolutions which causes the needle to reciprocate twenty-one times and the cam-disk to make one-half of a revolution. The machine is stopped at the end of the cycle by the usual stop mechanism.

The tacks are preferably laid in the following sequence. The first reciprocation of the needle pierces the cord at A (see Figs. 6-9), the work is then shifted to a position so that the needle on its second reciprocation will descend through the eye of the hook and alongside the cord at the point 'B. The work is then vibrated laterally so that the needle alternately descends through the points 13 and C. In the present embodiment after six stitches have been laid across the hook shank between the eyes of the hook and around the cord, the work is moved between the points A, B and C, so that the needle pierces the cord at the apex of the triangle or point A during every other reciprocation, i. e., the needle descends at B, A, C, A, B, A, C, A, et cetera, until six stitches have been laid in each of the anchor groups of stitches b and c, Fig. 6. The last two reciprocations of the needle pierce the cord at A to make the usual "tying stitches. At the completion of the cycle, the work-clamp and auxiliary presser-device are raised and the work removed.

It will be observed that the groups of wrapping stitches a which form. the base of .the triangle serve: first, to wrap the end of the cord to prevent unraveling; second, to hold the shank of the hook against the cord; third, to reenforce the cord between its end and the anchor point A; and fourth, to secure the hook to the cord in conjunction with the anchorgroups of stitches. This method has many advantages over the old and laborious hand method of Wrapping the hook to the cord. Further, a positive connection between the hook and cord is provided, thus giving greater security which is a highly desirable result.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction, manner of operation and several advantages of my improved article attaching machine will be clearly and fully understood. It is apparent that such a device has a wide variety of uses, and it will be understood that the form, construction and arrangement of the several elements employed may be varied. The privilege is therefore reserved of resorting to all such legitimate changes therein as may be fairly embodied within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:-

1. In a sewing machine work-clamp the combination of a presser-device, an auxiliary presserdevice, means for raising said presser-devices, and means under control of said raising means for moving the presser-devices differentially.

2. In a sewing machine work-clamp the combination of a presser-device, an auxiliary presserdevice, and means for raising the auxiliary presser-device a relatively greater amount than the first-mentioned presser-device.

3. In a sewing machine the combination of a. reciprocating needle, complemental loop-taking mechanism associated therewith, a presser-device located on one side of the needle-path, a second presser-device located on the opposite side of the needle-path, means for raising said firstmentioned presser-device, and means under control of said raising means for moving the second said presser-device a relatively greater amount than the first said presser-device.

4.. In a sewing machine the combination of a reciprocating needle, loop-taking means associated therewith, an article-holder having jaws disposed on one side of said needle, a presser-device disposed on the opposite side of said needle and normally obstructing the entrance to said jaws, and means for moving said obstructing presser-device to a non-obstructing position.

5. In a sewing machine Work-clamp the combination of an article-holder having an articlereceiving opening, a presser-device normally obstructing said opening, means for raising, said article-holder, and means under control of said raising means for concomitantly moving said presser-device to a non-obstructing position.

6. In a sewing machine the combination of a reciprocating needle, complemental loop-taking mechanism associated therewith, a presser-device located on one side of said needle, a second presser-device located on the opposite side of said needle, means for raising said first mentioned presser-device, and a rack and pinion connecting said second mentioned presser-device with said raising means.

'7. In a sewing machine work-clamp the combination of a hook-clamp having jaws to receive the eyes of a hook, and a bifurcated member fixed to said hook-clamp for positioning the shank of said hook.

8. In a sewing machine work-clamp the combination of a work-supporting plate formed with a material-receiving channel, an article-holder for positioning an article over said channel and a presser-device disposed at one end of said channel.

9. The combination as claimed in claim 8 with means for vibrating in unison the work-supporting plate and presser-device.

.10. In a machine for attaching articles to material the combination of a reciprocating needle, loop-taking means associated therewith, a worksupporting plate, a plurality of lugs forming a work-receiving channel attached to said plate, a hook-clamp having jaws for receiving the eyes of a hook and a bifurcated member for positioning the shank of a hook disposed on one side of said needle, and a presser-device disposed on the opposite side of said needle.

11. The combination as' claimed in claim 10 with means for vibrating in unison the lugs, hookclamp and presser-device relative to said needle.

JOSEPH VOLLMAN. 

